Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 April 1879 — The Metric System. [ARTICLE]

The Metric System.

The metric system of weights and measures is gaining ground. From a statistical table recently constructed by M. D. Malarce, and published in Comptes Rendus, it appears, first, that the decimal metric system of weights and measures is now established legally and obligatory in eighteen states, comprising a population of 236,600,000 of inhabitants; these states are France and colonies, Belgium, Holland and colonies, Germany, Sweden* Norway, Austria-HungaryJltaly, Spain, Portugal, Boumania, Greece, Brazil, Colombir, Ecuador, Peru, Chili and the Argentine Republic; second, that it is made legally optional in three states, having a population of 75,600,000 —viz., England, Canada and the United States; third, that it is admitted in principle, or partially for customs, in five states, with 343,600,000 inhabitants, viz., British India, Russia, Turkey, Venezuela and Hungary; fourth, and that, altogether, the system is established obligatorily, or optionally, or in principle, in twenty-six states, comprising 655,000,000 inhabitants. Four states have different systems, decimal as to multiples and divisions, but based on another unit than the meter. They comprise 471,000,000 inhabitants, and are Switzerland, Mexico, Japan and China. To these may be added some mediocre states, with various systems, non-decimal and non-metric. It appears, then, that in 1879 more than half the population of civilized states, comprising 1,180,000,000 inhabitants, legally recognize the decimal meter system of weights and measures. A large part of the progress is in these recent years.